Fukuchiyama District Conference - March 2011

This past Sunday we held District Conference for the Fukuchiyama Member District. It was attended by about 100 members from the Toyooka, Maizuru, Fukuchiyama and Nishiwaki Branches. Elder Aoyagi of the Seventy presided. Here are some of the children from these branches.

Group picture on Sunday afternoon. Not all in attendance are pictured as this taken after the main session and lunch. The Sunday meetings were held in the Nishiwaki District Center.

Weekend Baptisms in the Fukuchiyama Member District - March 2010

Brother Kishida was baptized in the Toyooka Branch this weekend. Brother Kishida's daughter Keiko Johnson and her family flew in from Utah to be at the baptism and Brother Johnson (son-in-law) perform the baptism. Sister Kishida has been a member for nearly 40 years and was one of the first members in Toyooka. This past year or so Brother Kishida has been studying the gospel diligently and was taught by several missionaries that served in the branch. It was a very special and long awaited baptismal service. The end of last month, Elders Shepley and Everts challenged Brother Kishida, who has had some health concerns, to fast and pray so that he could be baptized on March 20th. He accepted the commitment and we were able to witness a wonderful baptism on that day. Brother Kishida is looking forward to attending the temple and being sealed as a family and doing temple work for his family.I cannot emphasize the importance of the work we do among part-member families. Creating eternal families is central to our purpose as missionaries. We are gathering the blood of Israel. Is there not a better place to look for that blood than in a home where the blood already exists? We have seen an increase in baptisms among spouses, children and parents of members. These are truly answers to the prayers of faithful members. Many have prayed and been faithful for years in hopes of seeing their loved ones come unto Christ. We must be mindful of these people and patiently work with them and their loved ones to help them come unto to Christ.
Toyooka Branch members after the baptism.

The Furutani Family, a wonderful family in Toyooka, will be moving to Yamaguchi Prefecture next week. We are so sad to see them go. Brother Furutani has served in the District Presidency for several years. This weekend we had the chance to say goodbye one more time and get this picture with their family. We love their cute girls who always brighten up the church whenever we visit.Sister Miyagaki was baptized in the Fukuchiyama Branch. She was found and taught by Elders McGuire and Solomon.

Members of Fukuchiyama Branch attending the baptism at the river. Second baptism at this river in the past month!

Fukuchiyama Castle from the car on the drive to the river.

We love the Fukuchiyama District and the wonderful members there!

Oldest Relief Society President in the Church?

This is Sister Mitamura of the Fukuchiyama Branch. She is 81 years old and the Relief Society President for the branch. Not sure who the oldest R.S. President in the church is, but I am willing to bet Sister Mitamura is one of the oldest! She is so sweet and full of energy. We have never taken a picture with her so we did on this visit.

While in Fukuchiyama, we held the District Seminary Graduation. There were three graduates, but one was not able to attend so her mother accepted the diploma for her.

Fukuchiyama Branch Baptism Feb. 28, 2010

We visited the Fukuchiyama Branch today and spoke in sacrament meeting and helped teach Sunday School. After the meetings we headed to the river for the baptism of Brother Otsuki.He was taught and baptized by Elders Solomon and McGuire.It had been raining the night before so it was a little muddy walking to the spot. Still a little cold, but no one seemed to mind. Getting dry.

After the baptism we returned to the church for some refreshments. Later we held Seminary Graduation for the Fukuchiyama District at the church there as well. A great day in Fukuchiyama!

More Cherry Blossoms and Fukuchiyama Interviews - April 2009

Just across and down the street a couple minute walk from the mission home is the Gokokuji Temple. Lots of Sakura in bloom so we walked down at lunch time one day this week and enjoyed the beautiful blossoms.

This week we travelled to Fukuchiyama to interview the missionaries and to hold my monthly meeting with the District President. We noticed the sakura blooming at the Fukuchiyama Castle so we stopped and got a quick picture. This is a great little castle in the center of town set on a big hill. Not too sure of the history on this one, but it was certainly lived in hundreds of years by a Daimyo and Samurai who ruled the area.

Here is a picture of the zone. Elders Nicerio, Ritchie, Cutler, Sheffield, Badger, Bohman, Ito and Oshiro. Elder Fukui, who works in the office right now had a birthday this week and it seems that everyone made him a cake!

Week Ending March 8th 2009

March is turning out to be a great month for the work. We have many baptisms scheduled. Time will tell as to how many transpire, but we are off to a great start. We travelled to the Nishiwaki Church in the Fukuchiyama Member District for the baptism of Sister Shikata of the Fukuchiyama Branch. She was invited to a church activity by a member in late summer and later came to church and started the lessons in the fall. Sister McIntyre and I met her several times and attended Sunday School class with her at least twice. Many of the branch members traveled the 1.5 hour trip by car to the font at the church in Nishiwaki to attend her baptism. Sister McIntyre and I had a chance to share some remarks at the baptism. After the meeting everyone stayed around and ate sandwiches and snacks just like a big family.

She was baptized by Elder Oshiro. It took four tries, but she won't forget the experience. Elder Henderson returns home in a few weeks and this was a perfect way for him to finish off his last transfer and end a wonderful mission. They have another baptism schedule in the Fukuchiyama Branch the end of the month but it is after Elder Henderson returns home.

Early Sunday morning, I traveled to Himeji to attend sacrament meeting and the baptism of 9 year old Jessica Palmer in the Himeji Ward. Her father performed the baptism. He is from Nigeria and her mother, not a member yet, is from Japan. I was asked to speak in sacrament meeting and after listening to the primary kids sing at the baptism, I decided to speak about Christ visiting the Americas after his resurrection as recorded in 3 Nephi. I read the scripture where the Savior prays for the people and weeps and then he tells them to "behold your little ones..." This was a very special baptism for this ward. The ward has put their arms around this family and fellowshipped them wonderfully. Jessica was taught by Elders Sorenson and Matsuoka.

Here is a picture with the elders and some other primary kids. It did not turn out very clear though.

Saturday we travelled to the Senboku Branch again (we were there for a baptism last month as well) where Elders Howells and Ritchie baptized Brother Fukushima. These two elders taught him all the lessons over the last month or two, but Brother Fukushima actually first met the missionaries over 17 years ago. He has dropped into church off and on all these years. He has changed a lot over those years, with some big changes coming in his recent commitments to prepare for baptism. He bore a strong and humble testimony and expressed great gratitude for the gospel and for the chance to be baptized. It just shows that people can and will change and sometimes it takes time. It also takes missionaries not afraid to ask people to formally listen to the message and help people make and keep commitments.

Right after the baptism the Branch President, President Tonomura, had Brother Fukushima in his office interviewing him about receiving the Aaronic Priesthood. I was impressed as this is what needs to happen to truly "establish the church" and retain converts.

Right down the street from the Senboku Church is a plum tree park and the trees are in bloom. We stopped on our way out for a few pictures.

A wonderful weekend.

October 9th through the 19th Summary and Osaka Kita Stake Conference

The past 10 days we have been making the rounds meeting and interviewing the missionaries in their various districts. We first started interviews with the missionaries in the Kobe Zone and conducted those at the mission offices. We then spent a day in Osaka at the Abeno church interviewing two districts there. The Abeno church (above) is in the heart of Osaka and is at least 40 years old. I have the exact date it was built somewhere.Above is a different angle. The van is the mission president's vehicle. Believe me it gets a lot of kilometers put on it.Here we are a little closer up at Abeno with some of the Abeno district missionaries. It looks like Sisters Sadler and Yamashita and Elders Stufflebean, Williams and Fruen are with us.

We also made a trip to the Mikunigoaka church in the Sakai zone for interviews. Below is a picture of the district standing in front of the church with Sister McIntyre. The church used to be a fire station. The big garage doors on the left are where the fire engines would pull in and park. They make a nice place for our van now though.

What would the week be without finding an inexpensive all you can eat restaurant with the missionaries. In Mikunigoaka, the district took us to a nice shabu shabu place for lunch and they showed us how much they could eat. It seems they really look forward to doing this once a month or so when we come. The missionaries live on a very conservative budget, but seem to save enough for a meal out as a district once in while.This past week we also made another trip to the Fukuchiyama branch. Here is a picture of the little church in a building we have rented out. We also took another picture of the Fukuchiyama Castle on the way home.

We have made Fukuchiyama a small zone consiting of two districts and 10 missionaries. It includes 4 small branches in the beautiful mountains between Kobe and the Sea of Japan.

Our week was topped off with a great Stake Conference in the Osaka Kita (North) Stake. The Stake President, President Kido, presided at the conference and he asked both Sister McIntyre and I to speak and participate in the two days of meetings. The theme of the conference was "becoming the light of the world" or "let your light shine." The main focus was on sharing the gospel so it was a wonderful missionary focused two days. On Saturday, I was asked to speak in the adult session as well as meet with President Kido and all the bishops and ward mission leaders in a priesthood leadership meeting. On Sunday both Sister McIntyre and I spoke in the main session and Ricky and James also attended with us. We are grateful to the stake presidency and all those others who treated us so kindly. We were given flowers to wear and provided with delicious meals between meetings. The missionary spirit is strong in this stake and we are seeing great blessings in each of the wards. Special thanks to Sister Kido and Tanaka for the meals and Presidents Kido, Matsubara and Tanaka of the stake presidency. Next time we need to take a picture with them!

Tomorrow Elder and Sister Evans arrive to start a mission tour which will consist of two combined zone conferences held on Tuesday and Wednesday. We are looking forward to being trained by a General Authority of the church.

Week of September 14 - 21. Interviews and Fukuchiyama Branch Conference

Another Busy week in the Kobe Mission (they are all busy I guess)!

We continued our interviews of the missionaries travelling to Nara on Wednesday interviewing 6 Elders after which we enjoyed lunch with them at their favorite restaurant. Thursday we were off to Abeno in Osaka to interview 14 missionaries. Friday we went to Iwade in Wakayama to interview the southern half of the Sakai Zone which consists of 14 missionaries. While I interview each missionary one on one, Sister McIntyre meets with companions and reviews their area books and visits with them about health, cleanliness and things I do not focus on so much. She always takes cookies, brownies or cinnamon rolls for the missionaries. She makes them herself or if we do not have time because of the travel schedule, she has Sister Ise prepare them for her. Districts also hold district meeting when they all come together for the interviews. This week in Iwade, all the missionaries were looking forward to the all you can eat Yakiniku (BBQ Meat) lunch. It only costs 1000 yen ($10) and the missionaries can eat all the meat and side dishes they want. They were looking forward to that. They live on a conservative budget and really enjoy an all you can eat deal, especially if it is meat!

A happy group at the end of the meal!

On Tuesday night I attended a Stake Coordination meeting with President Sugimoto of the Sakai Stake in Mikunigoka. It was my first formal meeting with him as mission president. I know him well as he works for Franklin Covey and I hired him and was his boss up until I came on the mission. It was nice to meet with him in this capacity.

We are seeing improvements in our efforts to spread the gospel in the mission. Last week we had 6 more people scheduled for baptism than the previous week. The missionaries are catching the vision and showing their faith. Today (Sunday), Sister McIntyre and I attended a branch conference in Fukuchiyama. Fukuchiyama branch is in the Fukuchiyama District which is under the direction of the mission. Branch President Tsujino, Sister McIntyre and I spoke in sacrament meeting. It is a small branch with usually only 15 or so people attending. Today we had about 30 with the visiting leaders from the district and 3 non member investigators. We had a great meal prepared by the members as a branch after the conference. I had a chance to meet a Brother Masumoto who is not a member yet has a son on a mission in Fukuoka. His wife is a member and he attends with her very regularly. He told me he is waiting for a confirmation to his prayer about getting baptized. He really wants to be sure it is true. I told him he already knows. He will be baptized someday (I hope soon) and he is already an active member! We did not get a picture of the members this time. And the building is rented. We will be sure to post a picture next time. Elder Williamson and Elder Varjao are working in the Fukuchiyama Branch. Elder Varjao is new, just arriving last month. He is from Brazil and English is his 2nd language and Japanese is becoming his 3rd. He is a very serious and focused Elder. His companion and trainer shared with me a special story of what happened when they were teaching Brother Masumoto a few weeks ago. They were discussing baptism and Elder Varjao (only in Japan a week or two at the time) had a chance to testify to Brother Masumoto. When he did he spoke wonderful Japanese and went on for some time explaining why baptism was important and testifying. Everyone was very surprised as he did all this in great Japanese. Even Brother Masumoto commented that he did not know Elder Varjao could speak that well. It was certainly a gift of the spirit. Elder Williamson told me the story and shared with me how amazed he was at the experience.

A shot of Fukuchiyama Castle in the middle of town. Taken from the car so not a really good view.

In another area the missionaries took my challenge to talk with as many people as possible as a way to show their faith and find two new investigators each week. Elder Beecher and Elder Ashdown, in order to find two new people to teach that week, set a goal to talk with 150 people in one day. It was hard, but finally one day they exceeded the goal by talking with 153 people. They told me they were a little discouraged though because they did not find one new person who would make an appointment to listen to their message out of the 153. But they said they would try again. The next day was busy with appointments and meetings and they only had about an hour to proselyte. To their surprise, in that hour they found two people and hit their weekly goal! They were really excited and felt the Lord had blessed them for their efforts the previous day. But the next week, both those people they found ended up not being so interested. A little disappointed, but not ready to give up they kept the faith and continued to show their faith by their works. The following week, one of the people they had been teaching that they had hoped would be baptized but had stopped progressing came to church and said she wanted to be baptized on the 21st of September. That was today and we now have a new member in the Kita Rokko Ward. When we show our faith the Lord blesses us. Sometimes the blessings do not come in the manner or at the time we expect, but they come. All this happened this month for these Elders. The goal to baptize in Kita Rokko before transfers (by the end of this month) was achieved even though a few weeks ago it looked like it would be a hard thing to accomplish. A little hard work, faith and patience paid off and taught us all a great lesson.

A shot of the country side near Fukuchiyama. It was a cloudy rainy day. This is a village nestled up against the mountains with the rice fields nicely laid out.Look out for wild bore running across the road sign! They are quite common in the Japanese mountains.
Clouds coming down on the mountains. Fukuchiyama District countryside.